The U.S. and Global Security Review - Blog by Michael Novakhov

Former Russian dissident and writer Vladimir Bukovsky will appear in court next month in Britain to face 11 charges relating to indecent images of children, prosecutors said on Monday.

ЕС рассмотрит вопрос продления санкций против РФ в июле - Меркель - ЛІГА.net
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:06 PM

ЛІГА.net

ЕС рассмотрит вопрос продления санкций против РФ в июле - Меркель
ЛІГА.net
В Варшаве состоялись польско-немецкие межправительственные консультации. Глава польского правительства Эва Копач заявила, что ценит активность Германии и Франции на благо мирного решения конфликта в Украине. По ее словам, Варшава и Берлин согласны в оценке ...
Польша и Германия выступают против смягчения санкций в отношении РоссииРБК Украина
Меркель: ЕС продлит санкции в отношении РоссииГлавная | Deutsche Welle
Меркель: судьбу антироссийских санкций ЕС решит в июлеГазета Труд
РИА Новости -Украинское национальное информагентство -УНИАН
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Севастопольский сайт узнал о появлении таблички на могиле сына Януковича - РБК
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:06 PM

http://newsler.info/

Севастопольский сайт узнал о появлении таблички на могиле сына Януковича
РБК
На могиле Виктора Януковича-младшего в Севастополе появилась табличка с его именем и датами жизни и смерти, сообщает местный новостной портал «Искра» и публикует фотографии могилы. Издание пишет, что территория, где находится могила, ранее была обнесена каменным ...
На могиле Януковича-младшего появилась именная табличка и сторожГазета.Ru
Безымянная могила в Севастополе обрела табличку с именем сына ЯнуковичаИА REGNUM
Янукович хранил миллиарды наличкой?Комсомольская Правда в Украине
УНИАН -Биржевой лидер
Все похожие статьи: 182 »

Merkel: Sanctions on Russia Should Be Tied to Minsk Dealby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:06 PM

Voice Of America

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday international sanctions imposed on Russia over its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine should depend on whether peacekeeping commitments signed this year in Minsk are upheld. “During the European Council (meeting) in March we took an unambiguous decision that the sanctions should be tied to the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” Merkel told a joint news conference with Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz in Warsaw. “It is clear that the implementation of this package is taking longer. We will deal with this issue in June (when the EU will hold its scheduled sanctions review),” she said. Kopacz said that Merkel agreed with her that sanctions, which have been already imposed on Russia, should be maintained. “We are in agreement on the situation and our basic policies with regard to Ukraine and Russia. We believe that, currently, a softening of sanctions vis-à-vis Russia would not be justified,” said Kopacz. She added that the degree to which the Minsk deal will be followed will determine whether the current sanctions regime will be extended or even broadened. The Minsk agreements spell out a step-by-step de-escalation of the conflict in east Ukraine between government troops and separatist rebels, widely seen as being supported by Russia with personnel and weapons, a charge Moscow denies. According to estimates, the year-old conflict has to date claimed more than 6,100 lives and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Some material for this story came from AP.

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Putin’s Power Resembles a Witch Doctor’s, Pain Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:05 PM

Paul Goble

Staunton, April 27 – Totalitarianism can emerge in any society if conditions are created to promote the restoration of “social and cultural archaism” as a result of “a lack of choice in politics” and the promotion of “irrationalism in mass consciousness,” according to Moscow sociologist Emil Pain.

Exactly that dynamic, one that promoted “barbarism” as opposed to the triumph of rationality that Max Weber saw as the hallmark of modernity, is on view in contemporary Russia and helps to explain both what Vladimir Putin is doing and why his ratings are so astronomically high (colta.ru/articles/society/7139).

Over the last two years – and Pain insists that the events in Ukraine have been the occasion rather than the cause of this – such archaism, including the desecularizaiton of society, the expansion of zones of the sacred which cannot be criticized by anyone, and hostility to the surrounding world, has been Putin’s policy and has boosted his standing.

After the annexation of Crimea, Pain rights, mass consciousness in Russia increasingly acquired a messianic aspect: the notion “Great Russia is called upon to defend the Russian world from any enemies: fascists, liberals and the West” and the related notion that Stalin and any real leader – and by implication, Putin -- is justified in taking any actions if he does so

To understand this, Pain suggests, one should consider the ideas of English anthropologist E. Evans-Pritchard who argued 60 years ago that the study of witch doctors in Africa helps to explain “the nature of totalitarianism” and its leader cults. Now, it is clear why that is so.

“The cult of a leader of the nation for life and that of the witch doctor are based on one nad the same thing – recognition of the unachievable and mystical power of a particular individual in whom resides a magical and supernatural force or ability” without which the nation or the tribe would die, the Moscow sociologist writes.

According to Pain, “the witch doctor and the leader use similar mechanisms of subordinating the masses to themselves, appealing not to the reason of the latter but to the emotions of a pre-cultural stratum and above all to fears and phobias.” That is exactly what Putin is doing now.

The totalitarian leader just like the witch doctor is able to give comfort and eliminate fears “again by the same mystical path, above all by the elimination of an impure force on which all attacks depend. Such mystical comfort is best of all demonstrated by contemporary Russian propaganda.”

That propaganda creates “the image of the horrific enemy who with the help of magic is capable of calling forth ‘color revolutions’ in any country but then comfortsits audience by showing that it is not difficult to convert this enemy into ‘atomic dust’(somehow without a return threat to one’s own country).”

Indeed, Pain argues, statements by Russian military experts about the use of nuclear weapons recall the incantations of shamans” more than any other kind of analysis. Nonetheless, they can help consolidate Russian society around Putin, although such “negative consolidation” is something that is very narrow and likely short-lived.

“For positive consolidation,” one would need goals that elevated people rather than drove them back to atavistic positions, but there are no such goals on offer or even currently available in Russia, Pain says.

Internationally, Russians now know who their enemies are but not their friends. Economically, they are in the position of someone who is happy only when his neighbor’s cow dies. And culturally, they are told they should come out in defense of traditional values. But there is the problem: most Russians may protest the new but no longer support the old.

As Pain notes, “classical totalitarian regimes guaranteed social support for themselves by advancing global goals: ‘world revolutions,’ ‘the thousand-year Recih,’ the universal Islamic khalifate,’ and so on.” But Putin’s Russia is “positioning itself as an outsider, fighting not ‘for’ anything, but only ‘against.’”

Maintaining this is a problem given that the enemies or obstacles keep changing, Pain says, although promoting the idea is “one of the simplest tasks for propaganda.” But when the country can’t attack others or cannot achieve economic growth and when the leader doesn’t offer anything else, his backing will fall.

The magic of the leader like the magic of the witch doctors around him allows for the manipulation of public opinion for a time. “For the time being, it guarantees the self-preservation of power but this magic is not total or firm.” Indeed, “the current ‘uncompleted (and perhaps unachievable) totalitarianism’” is closer to its end than its beginning.

“Historically,” he says, “all processes are accelerating,and as a result, the lifetime of mobilization regimes is now measured not in decades but in years.”

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Russian Parents Still Spending ‘Billions of Rubles’ Each Year to Help Sons to Avoid the Draft by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:05 PM

Paul Goble

Staunton, April 27 – Despite the growth of contract service, the decline in the size of the military, and the fall in the number of men the Russian army hopes to draft, Russian parents are still spending “billions of rubles” every year so that their sons can avoid performing military service, an indication that public support for the army is not as high as Moscow claims.

According to the calculations of Aleksey Boyarsky, a “Kommersant-Dengi” journalist, the exact sum is on the order of eight billion rubles (160 million US dollars), a figure so large that it has not only placed real burdens on parents but spawned an entire industry devoted to helping young men avoid the draft (kommersant.ru/doc/2703354).

The journalist telephoned several companies promising to help people avoid military service. He found them by using an Internet search engine, with the words “don’t go” enough to generate as the most popular response “don’t go into the army.” He spoke several times with representatives of the Service for Helping Draftees, a firm with branches throughout Russia.

For fees averaging 150,000 rubles (3,000 US dollars), the firm promised to prepare all the necessary documentation, organize medical checks, and handle legal appeals in order to get a permanent or at least temporary deferment – and to refund the client’s money if it was not successful.

In addition, people in such firms give advice on what potential draftees should do in advance of medical testing to make sure they fail and thus get deferments that way. If all else fails, potential draftees can turn to the courts or give bribes to officers involved in the military draft, including doctors.

But that hardly covers the extent of bribery involving military service, Boyarsky says. In the North Caucasus in particular, many who should be deferred bribe their way into service so that they can work in the police. And many who are drafted pay bribes directly to officers to avoid punishment, including having their terms of service extended.

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Эрдоган потребовал от России объясниться за Крым - Вести.Ru
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:05 PM

Russian News, All The Latest And Breaking Russia News

Вести.Ru

Эрдоган потребовал от России объясниться за Крым
Вести.Ru
"Я очень расстроен, что лично Путин так поступил. Если уж и делать заявления по поводу геноцида, то России стоит изучить свою историю, ответить за прошлое, за Крым", — отреагировал на участие президента России в мероприятиях в память массовой гибели армян в 1915 году его ...

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Кибератаки: преступления и наказания by Голос Америки
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:04 PM

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	Кибератаки: преступления и наказания Хакеры – угроза 21 века Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/hackers-threat/2736243.html.	From: Голос Америки Views: 64 5 ratings
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Russia resumes gold stockpiling as rouble crisis easesby Andrew Critchlow
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:04 PM

Moscow-based central bank expected to slash rates this week as data show massive gold stockpiling in March

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· · ·

Лидеры ЕС не поддержали просьбу Украины прислать миротворцев - Радио Свобода
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:03 PM

Радио Свобода

Лидеры ЕС не поддержали просьбу Украины прислать миротворцев
Радио Свобода
Лидеры Европейского Союза не согласились с требованиями Украины направить миротворцев в эту страну. Во время, состоявшегося в понедельник, саммита ЕС-Украина, представители Евросоюща тем не менее согласились увеличить гуманитарную помощь Киеву, ведущему боевые ...
17:59 / 27.04.2015 Евросоюз, ЕС, Порошенко, Саммит, УкраинаВ ходе саммита Украина – ЕС Петр Порошенко заявил о своих амбициозных планах ...Дни.Ру
Порошенко хочет войти в Евросоюз через 5 летБиржевой лидер
Петр Порошенко призвал дать Украине возможность вступить в ЕвросоюзКоммерсантъ
Mail.Ru -FINANCE.UA -Зеркало недели
Все похожие статьи: 186 »

U.S. Adviser Warns That Russia, Other World Powers, Are Sapping World Order by By Maria Snegovaya
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:03 PM

U.S. diplomat Charles Hill was a senior adviser to former U.S. secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, and to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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Page 3

Putin’s Frankenstein by Stephen Blank
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:03 PM

Recently Stephen Sestanovich observed that whenever Putin faces a crisis he blames America and other governments for it. The latest example of this Putin tactic of misdirection and evasion is his claim that the US and other intelligence agencies actually conspired with Islamic terrorists to detach the North Caucasus from Russia. Although this charge will undoubtedly play well in the state-controlled media environment of Russia, its absurdity is self-evident. But it reflects the newest and most serous challenge to Putin, namely Ramzan Kadyrov’s defiance of the Russian state and its security structures. It is now evident that Boris Nemtsov’s murder has multiple Chechen fingerprints on it. But when Russian authorities came to arrest Ruslan Geremeev, a former Russian MVD and military officer and current member of Kadyrov’s troops, for this assassination Kadyrov told his forces that if Russians come to Chechnya again they should shoot to kill.

Thus Kadyrov has become Putin’s Frankenstein, a Putin-created monster who commands, in true warlord style, some 30-40,000 men and whose writ is law in Chechnya. At least two immediate crises are thereby triggered. First, once the state begins to lose the monopoly over the “legal” use of violence it is on a trajectory to dissolution and internal war. Under Putin Moscow has created multiple militaries, many of whom serve in the Army, MVD, FSB, or other paramilitary formations. But they are loyal to Putin. Kadyrov’s forces, despite his protestations of loyalty to Putin, are loyal to him alone, and Kadyrov’s real goal is essentially an independent or at least autonomous Chechnya under his control. He also is apparently trying to parlay his military power into gaining control of major economic assets in Russia as well to consolidate his position. Thus his defiance signals the arrival of a genuine crisis of the state in Russia.

Moreover, in the context of the eternal strife among the competing elite factions in Russia it is clear that the Kadyrovtsy could become a weapon in those domestic political struggles. It is already clear that the Silovye Struktury (structures of power or force) in Russia bitterly resent the usurpation of their presumed mandate and authority by Kadyrov. But until now Putin has protected him because his entire Chechen policy depends on Kadyrov to keep that territory stable. And if Putin’s Chechen policy fails, the basis of his legitimacy suffers a major blow and the long-lasting turmoil in the North Caucasus- the second crisis — automatically grows.

The second crisis is the North Caucasus, and here Putin’s lies concerning Western efforts to detach it are of importance. Readers should remember, as did Sestanovich, that Putin employed the same trope in 2004 to deflect attention from the Beslan disaster brought on by his own MVD forces. Since then although Kadyrov and Putin have “pacified’ Chechnya the war has spread to the rest of the North Caucasus where the Jihadist insurgents now claim increasing adherence to ISIS. There is the real danger that any effort to strike at Kadyrov — the need for which is becoming increasingly essential if Putin’s state project is to survive — will trigger a much greater conflagration through the North Caucasus.

Russian authorities claim that they had begun to get a grip on the situation in the North Caucasus during 2014 and that the incidence of violence had declined. This is also partly due to he fact that insurgents have moved in large numbers to Syria and Iraq where the bigger action and ISIS’ headquarters are located. Nevertheless, it remains the case that the local and central governments have still not come up with an answer to the problems of the North Caucasus and that this area has been engulfed in conflict for over twenty years. And now there is a largely independent Muslim force, albeit one loyal to Kadyrov, as a “wild card” in Chechnya.

Since Putin’s state can only survive now through the mobilization of hatred and a warlike atmosphere, if not actual war, to secure its geopolitical goals, the appearance of this quasi-independent force heightens the danger to both Russians and to Russia’s neighbors and significantly raises the chances for large-scale internal violence in Russia. It also causes problems for Putin in Ukraine should Kadyrov’s followers there break with the Russian offensive although we cannot determine how many of his forces are currently in Ukraine.

Thus Kadyrov’s challenge demonstrates some of the inherent pathologies and limitations of the Putin model. Although Kadyrov represents the latest example of the Russian state’s historic ability to co-opt rebel or potential rebel elites into the state, it is apparently no longer possible to accomplish this without generating as a result a potentially mortal threat to the stability if not integrity of the state. The limitations of the Tsarist or neo-patrimonial model wherein such co-optation has occurred suggests that the lure of Muslim extremism is now greater for Russia’s Muslims than the attraction of wealth and power in the Russian state. Indeed, the phenomenon of Slavic Russians converting to Islam and joining Jihadi movements, including those in the North Caucasus, further suggests the eroding viability of the traditional historical model and the so called Russian idea. And if the co-optation paradigm of the past cannot work all that is left to keep the restive North Caucasus in the state is unrelieved force and Moscow no longer has sufficient force at its disposal, given its demographics crises, faltering economy, and the presence of the Kadyrovtsy.

At the same time the dangers of Putin’s ever-growing reliance upon the Silovye Struktury and coercion at home are now increasingly visible to all because that force may rebound upon Rusisa and the Putin elite. However Putin ultimately deals with this challenge he has now made clear that the threat of the state’s disintegration is omnipresent and that it can only be pushed away by the specter of visible strife and mass mobilization against fictitious enemies. Bread and circuses (even if they are violent circuses of hatred) only works over time if there is bread. But as even bread is becoming increasingly problematic can the Russian state survive strictly by means of violence and plunder?

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· · ·

База США в Японии обстреляна из самодельной ракетной установки - Коммерсантъ
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:01 PM

Коммерсантъ

База США в Японии обстреляна из самодельной ракетной установки
Коммерсантъ
База сухопутных сил США Кэмп-Дзама в японской префектуре Канагава к юго-западу от Токио была обстреляна сегодня из самодельной ракетной установки. Ущерба нанесено не было, никто не пострадал. О взрыве в районе базы сообщили в полицию местные жители. После этого на ...
Неизвестные обстреляли в Японии американскую военную базуВести.Ru
Военную базу США в Японии обстреляли из самодельной ракетной установкиВзгляд
В точках японских противоречийНаши острова
ГОЛОС АМЕРИКИ-Российская Газета-Международное радио Китая
Все похожие статьи: 24 »

ОБСЕ в Донбассе зафиксировала недостачу тяжёлого вооружения, отведённого украинскими силовиками - Первый канал
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:00 PM

Первый канал

ОБСЕ в Донбассе зафиксировала недостачу тяжёлого вооружения, отведённого украинскими силовиками
Первый канал
Об этом говорится в ежедневном отчёте наблюдателей. В одном из районов, в частности, отсутствуют системы залпового огня "Град", которые ранее демонстрировались представителям ОБСЕ. В двух других не хватает 152-миллиметровых гаубиц. "Наблюдатели посетили три ...
Представителей ОБСЕ боевики третий раз за четыре дня не пустили в ШирокиноУра-Информ
ОБСЕ зафиксировала самый интенсивный обстрел Широкино с начала боевых действийКомсомольская Правда в Украине

Силовики укрепляют ряд позиций в Донбассе, отмечают наблюдатели ОБСЕРИА Новости
Интерфакс-Украинское национальное информагентство-Российская Газета
Все похожие статьи: 286 »

На саммите ЕС в Киеве Брюссель перешел от пряника к кнуту - Интернет-газета "Вести"
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:00 PM

Интернет-газета "Вести"

На саммите ЕС в Киеве Брюссель перешел от пряника к кнуту
Интернет-газета "Вести"
Саммит Украина — ЕС оставил двоякое впечатление. С одной стороны, в очередной раз из уст европейцев прозвучали слова поддержки Украины, нам подтвердили выделение очередного транша финансовой помощи в 1,8 млрд евро. С другой стороны, посланцы Евросоюза ...

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World Briefing: Ukraine: Aiming for E.U. Membershipby THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 2:00 PM

NYT > Europe

President Petro O. Poroshenko said Monday at a high-level meeting with European Union officials that Ukraine would be able to meet the conditions to apply for membership.

Порошенко: Над нами до сих пор висит угроза войны - ИА REGNUM
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:59 PM

РБК Украина

Порошенко: Над нами до сих пор висит угроза войны
ИА REGNUM
Президент Украины Петр Порошенко открывая во вторник, 28 апреля, донорскую конференцию в поддержку Украины заявил, что война в Донбассе может начаться «в любой момент», сообщает УНН. Взгляд. СМИ: ФАС запретила губернаторам регулировать цены на продукты · Власти ...
Порошенко: Война в Донбассе может начаться в любой моментВзгляд
Порошенко намекнул о новой войне в ДонбассеДни.Ру
Порошенко предупредил об угрозе возобновления боевых действий "в любой момент"Интерфакс
РБК Украина -Украинское национальное информагентство -СЕГОДНЯ
Все похожие статьи: 27 »

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Путин: Россия сократила ядерный арсенал до минимального уровня - Ведомости
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:59 PM

Путин: Россия сократила ядерный арсенал до минимального уровня
Ведомости
Россия сократила ядерный арсенал до минимального уровня, это значимый вклад во всеобщее и полное разоружение, считает президент России Владимир Путин. "Россия последовательно выполняет все положения ДНЯО, в том числе статью VI. Мы сократили свой ядерный арсенал ...

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Байден: санкции против России должны быть продолжены - РИА Новости
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:58 PM

The National Interest Online (blog)

РИА Новости

Байден: санкции против России должны быть продолжены
РИА Новости
В июле прошлого года ЕС и США от точечных санкций против отдельных физлиц и компаний перешли к мерам против целых секторов российской экономики. В ответ Россия ограничила импорт продовольственных товаров из стран, которые ввели в отношении нее санкции, в том числе ...

Вице-президент США назвал условия финансовой помощи УкраинеГазета Труд
Байден призвал украинцев уничтожать коррупцию на всех уровнях

Украинское национальное информагентство

Украина может получить от США гарантии еще на $2 миллиардаУНИАН
Росбалт.RU-ЛІГА.net-СЕГОДНЯ
Все похожие статьи: 112 »

Report: To Aid Combat, Russia Wages Cyberwar Against Ukraine - NPR (blog)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:58 PM

Russia - Google News

Report: To Aid Combat, Russia Wages Cyberwar Against Ukraine
NPR (blog)
The rules of War 2.0 (or 3.0) are murky. Experts and pundits say that cyberwarfare is happening. And it makes sense. But it's been very hard to prove. A new report adds to the body of evidence, charging that the Russian military is waging a sustained ...
What Central Europe Really Thinks About RussiaNew York Times
Showdown: US Slams Russia over Nuclear War ThreatsThe National Interest Online (blog)
Is the Ukraine Conflict a Victory or Defeat for Russia?The Moscow Times
Middle East Eye -Yahoo News -Kyiv Post
all 164 news articles »

Альтернатива Путину? by Радио Свобода
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:58 PM

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	Альтернатива Путину? Создание демократической коалиции обсуждаем с Владимиром Миловым и Андреем Нечаевым. Есть ли альтернатив...	From: Радио Свобода Views: 13 8 ratings
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Ukraine Live Day 435: Huge Blast At Russian Military Camp Used For Invasion by Liveblog Team
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:58 PM

Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here. An archive of our liveblogs can be found here. For an overview and analysis of this developing story see our latest podcast.

Please help The Interpreter to continue providing this valuable information service by making a donation towards our costs.

For links to individual updates click on the timestamps.

For the latest summary of evidence surrounding the shooting down of flight MH17 see our separate article: Evidence Review: Who Shot Down MH17?

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Amid Russia Tensions, Finnish Military Fires Charges at Suspected Submarine by Reuters
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:57 PM

The Finnish military fired on Tuesday handheld underwater depth charges as a warning against a suspected submarine in waters near Helsinki, an incident that comes amid growing military tensions with
Russia.

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«Взрывы есть — расследований нет» - Газета.Ru
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:57 PM

Газета.Ru

«Взрывы есть — расследований нет»
Газета.Ru
В Ростовской области около 8 утра на полигоне «Кузьминка» произошел взрыв боеприпасов и пожар. По данным военных, взорвалась самоходная артиллерийская установка, потом огонь перекинулся на машины. В итоге поврежденными оказались около 30 автомобилей. Легкие ...
Более сотни спасателей ликвидируют последствия взрыва в Ростовской областиInterfax Russia
Пожар на ростовском полигоне потушен, эвакуированные люди возвращаются домойМосковский комсомолец
Пожар на полигоне: военные устраняют последствия ЧПВести.Ru
Российская Газета -Русская Служба Новостей -Ura.ru
Все похожие статьи: 404 »

Finns drop depth charges after sub sighting
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:56 PM

Europe News

Finnish navy searches waters off Helsinki after indications of Russian military incursion

Russians Seethe Over Western Snub of Victory Day Paradeby Reuters
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:56 PM

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

One of Boris Lisitsyn's happiest memories is of being swept by a huge, joyous crowd through the streets of Moscow and onto Red Square in spontaneous celebrations when World War II ended in Europe.

"Хирург" грозит "русофобам" by Радио Свобода
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:55 PM

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In New TV Spots, Ukraine Accuses Russia Of 'Misappropriating' Victory Day by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:55 PM

New Ukrainian public-service announcements show that Russia has no monopoly on patriotic feelings about the victory over Nazi Germany.

Tolerance for Evil and Permanent Fear Block Development of Russian Society, Schulmann Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:54 PM

Paul Goble

Staunton, April 28 – Russia is unlikely to develop into a fundamentalist country like Iran with Orthodox radicals playing the role of mullahs, but “the moral permissiveness [toward evil] in combination with permanent fear for one’s life and well-being is blocking the development of both [Russian] society and its individual members, according to Ekaterina Schulmann.

In an essay in today’s “Vedomosti,” the Moscow political analyst points out that proposals by Duma members to prohibit abortions or otherwise impose what their authors believe are Orthodox values receive a great deal of media attention and generate fears in some quarters about the future (vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2015/04/28/krivaya-skrepa-o-tschete-russkogo-fundamentalizma).

But few notice, Schulmann observes, that “not a single such initiative advanced further than the first reading. All of them have been either rejected, returned to their authors, or withdrawn by them” – a pattern that says a great deal about where Russia is and where it is heading.

Supporters of the Putin regime can make as any “sexist or traditionalist public pronouncements” as they like, “but officially, [the regime] avoids the slogan ‘Kinder, Kuche, Kirche,’” she continues, and that shows the gap between these public positions and what is actually occurring.

“Why is it impossible in Russia,” she asks rhetorically, “to imagine politically influential organizations struggling with abortions and promiscuity in general on the model of numerous structures within the orbit of the Republican Party of the US or the Catholic church in the countries of southern Europe?”

The reason is to be found in the fact that “’Russian fundamentalism’ and the degree of its realization in reality and not just in propaganda” are two different things. Russian society is too diverse and its history too complicated to imagine Russia reversing itself in the way Afghanistan and Iran have.

“In Russia,” she observes, “a difficult-to-describe ‘lower matriachate’ functions, soethign which does not make the lives of women wealthier or better defended.” Moreover the gradual disappearance of the non-nuclear family is combined with a cult of children” which uniquely features things like divorce in favor of children and the handing over of children to orphanages.

Homosexuality is “understood not as ‘an orientation,’ a personal characteristic, but as a social stigma which is connected with the acceptance everywhere of a criminal ethos.” As a result, many Russians see homosexuals as “wreckers” who threaten children, Schulmann continues.

“All these things,” the Moscow scholar says, “intuitively understood” by people in Russia “poorly translate into the language of the social sciences. Our values are defined by the lack of a Reformation, of amoral-religious revolt of the lower orders against the upper ones – and consequently by the non-existence of ‘Russian puritans’ and their corresponding moral system.”

In Russia, the church remains subordinate to the state, and religious figures “are influential only to the extent that they are close to the ruling bureaucracy rather than the other way around.” And that in turn means, that “the inheritance of the Soviet authorities – the atomization of society, the collapse of family ties, secularism, the total involvement of women in the workplace and hyper-urbanization – dominates the situation.”

According to the World Values Survey, she notes, “Russian society combines secular rational values with a high priority for the values of expression,” a pattern that shows Russia has chosen survival over development and broken with traditionalism far more not only in comparison with “all Islamic and Latin American countries and Catholic southern Europe but also from the majority of English-speaking countries – Canada, the UK and the US.”

This means, Schulmann argues, that “in Russia few are agitated by moral problems as such, but all are agitated by issues of security … [Russians] don’t feel righteous anger: they imitate it. It isn’t morality that agitates them, but survival at any price – in other words by a certain ideological opposition to any moral code, traditionalist or liberal.”

There is a positive side to this, she says. It is unlikely that there will appear in Central Russia the kind of radical priests and their fundamentalism that many might expect. But tyhere is a negative one as well: “moral permissiveness in combination with permanent fear for one’s life and well-being blocks the development of both society and the individual.”

In sum, Schulmann says, “Russian society, for completely understandable reasons, does have display the feelings of fundamental security which, psychologists say, ought to form in a child during the first year of life and allow him to develop his abilities, take risks and acknowledge the new.”

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Finland Investigates Possible Foreign Submarine in its Waters; Dozens of Russian Provocations This Year by Editorial Desk
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:54 PM

Russian News, All The Latest And Breaking Russia News

The following is Finland’s official statement on the foreign submarine spotted off its coast: Finnish Navy detected possible underwater target in the territorial waters off Helsinki.

Russia lashes out at Polish ban on Putin bikers by Tom Parfitt
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:54 PM

Foreign ministry in Moscow calls border guards' refusal to admit Night Wolves "blasphemous"

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· · ·

Russian Government (Preemptively) Condemns Finnish Reports About Foreign Submarine Violating Its Sea Spaceby Editorial Desk
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:54 PM

Mikko Laaksonen is in Finland and has been watching today’s developments. The first thing he notes is that while the Finnish government’s reporting of this story has made no claims as to the origin of the submarine, the Russian state-controlled press has still criticized the statements:

Huge Blast At Russian Military Camp Used For Invasionby Editorial Desk
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:53 PM

An extremely powerful explosion occurred this morning in a Russian military camp, in the Rostov region, near the village of Kuzminka, around 70 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Moscow Failed to Learn from Perestroika and Keeps Repeating Its Mistakes, Inozemtsev Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:53 PM

Paul Goble

Staunton, April 28 – Perestroika, begun 30 years ago, “became an irreversible process,” one that “destroyed both the communist system and the Soviet empire, Vladislav Inozemtsev says. But as is now clear, “it did not put an end to its age-old authoritarian traditions of Russia itself and did not transform it economically, socially or politically into a ‘normal country.’”

It ended, the Moscow economist continues, “not because it achieved all its goals but because the history of the Soviet Union ended.” As a result, “the processes unleased in those years continue now,” and those who want to guide Russia need to focus on the lessons of perestroika (daily.rbc.ru/opinions/society/27/04/2015/553a32e39a794758ad212202).

That is all the more so if Russia begins as it is likely to sometime in the future to launch “’Perestroika 2.0.’” Otherwise, without a full appreciation of those lessons, it is likely that Russia will repeat them with potentially even more fateful consequences in the course of the latest historical cycle.”

In a commentary on RBK.ru yesterday, Inosemtsev discusses what he sees as the five chief lessons or even what one might call cautionary tales that Perestroika 1.0 offers:

The first of these involves the process of economic reform as a whole. Mikhail Gorbachev sought to achieve two things at once, radical reform and acceleration, but his pursuit of these two simultaneously became “the most important reason why neither of these goals was achieved,” Inozemtsev says.

If an economy needs to be restructured, Inozemtsev argues, promoting acceleration will only lead to “the production of unneeded goods” and “the deepening of disproportions. If, on the other hand, ‘perestroika’ is needed, then it should be carried out under conditions of lower tempos,” thus allowing new centers of growth to emerge.

Now as in perestroika times, the authorities are trying to do both at the same time, something that means Russia is now far more dependent on the export of oil and gas than was the USSR and that private enterprise, the chief driver of real economic reform and development, “is ever more actively viewed as an enemy.”

The second of these lessons that Moscow has not yet learned is economic but also political: the question of how to deal with property. What happened during perestroika was “not only unjust but economically ineffective,” reinforcing the bad from the past rather than opening the way for the good in the future.

China has shown how a country ought to proceed but the USSR and now Russia have “gone along another path,” one that has hurt them both. Instead of promoting new companies by creating legal arrangements allowing them to emerge and compete, Moscow has focused ont eh redistribution of the existing infrastructure.

“Of the 100 largest companies in present-day China, only five,” Inozemtsev says, are based on those created before 1980. In Russia, 70 of the largest firms are those which were created then. As a result, in Russia, “structures most of all interested in preserving the status quo occupy the dominant positions;” in China, the innovators do.

The third lesson of perestroika that has not been learned is about “the ‘democratization’ of society.” Democratization, of course, did not lead to democracy. Instead and “to the contrary, in the 1990s, we saw the manipulation of public opinion by the oligarchs, and in the 2000s and especially in 2010, the same thing by the authoritarian political hierarchy.”

Democratization and economic reform are extraordinarily difficult to implement in the short term as they tend to create a situation in which they conflict. In the USSR, democratization was carried out where there was no “responsible civil society. Today its absence is even more visible.”

Thus, “the third lesson of perestroika consists in the idea that appealing to society when there are economic problems or even a crisis can lead to results diametrically opposed.” In Russia today, “the liberal order which neither perestroika nor the new Russia gave birth to” is a matter of “the imitation of democracy” and “democratic chaos.”

Instead of developing the Soviet Union as the unitary state it was and devolving powers to the regions to the point of satisfying republic elites, “the Soviet authorities decided to ‘restructure’ the USSR,” a decision that “became the beginning of its end.” That lesson is “especially important for Russia today,” Inozemtsev says, given that it is more centralized than was the USSR and how many centrifugal forces are emerging.

“On the one hand,” he writes, the annexation of Crimea “is analogous to the Baltics” in Soviet times. “And on the other, Chechnya has raised its head, ready to begin the process of such ‘a federalization’ about which no one even thought about in the late Soviet Union.” Russia needs “a new regional policy,” and it must be based on economic and social levers rather than force alone.

The fifth lesson involves foreign policy. Under Gorbachev, Moscow achieved a serious rapprochement with the West, but current events which point to the unleashing of a second cold war “indicate that even here something didn’t go as planned.”

The reason, Inozemtsev says, is that “having begun a dialogue with the West, the USSR did not start from a recognition of its defeat in the global contest. When people say that the cold war was not lost, this is in many ways just.” But the problem was that “Soviet leaders were not concerned about a clear legal strengthening of the results of rapprochement.”

The West should have embraced Russia to prevent it from falling into the trap of its own phobias as it has done, the Moscow economist says, but Russia in its turn “should ‘sell’ its turning away from aggression for a much higher integration price than was done at the turn of the 1990s.”

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Explosion on Odessa Railroad; No Injuries by Editorial Desk
Tuesday April 28th, 2015 at 1:53 PM